Chapter VI: Part I: Growth, Manufacture and Distribution (1)

WHAT SUGAR IS

Among the many varieties of sugar the most important are the sucroses and the glucoses. They form a natural group of substances, chiefly of vegetable origin. Chemically considered, all sugars are carbohydrates, that is to say, bodies composed of three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Sucrose contains twelve atoms of carbon, twenty-two atoms of hydrogen and eleven atoms of oxygen.

Apart from sucrose, which is usually cane and beet sugar, the variety most generally met with is dextrose—one of the glucoses. It possesses less sweetness than sucrose and differs from the latter in chemical composition. As an example: dextrose is found in the raisin in small grains. It also occurs in other fruits and is the result of the inversion of sucrose.

Glucose enters largely into the manufacture of candy, being particularly necessary in the preparation of soft filling for creams, as a certain amount of it added to cane-sugar syrup prevents crystallization.

Sucrose is derived from sugar cane, maple sap, sorghum and the sugar beet. It is a solid, crystallizing in the form of monoclinic prisms, generally with hemihedral faces, which are colorless, transparent, have a sweet taste, a specific gravity of 1.6 and a melting point of about 320 degrees Fahrenheit. It is soluble in about one-half its weight in cold water, and in boiling water in almost all proportions. It is practically insoluble in alcohol, turpentine, ether, chloroform and similar fluids.

The crop of 1914-15 showed a world’s production of 18,409,016 long tons of sugar, and in the chapters relating to the history of sugar will be found a statement setting forth the amount produced by each country. The total was derived about one-half from cane and one-half from beets, produced as follows:

CANE BEET
Total in America 5,017,375 660,236
” Asia 4,268,618
” Australia and Polynesia 348,408
” Africa 523,788
” Europe 7,376[4] 7,583,215
---------- ---------
10,165,565 8,243,451

Sugar cane, described in botany as _Saccharum officinarum_, is a giant-stemmed perennial grass that grows from eight to twenty-four feet long. When ripe it produces at the top of its stalk a large feathery plume of flowers of a gray inflorescence called the “tassel,” which is from two to four feet in length.

There are many kinds of cane, all of which are regarded as varieties of one species, although some botanists have raised a few to the rank of distinct species. The cultivated types are distinguished by the color of the internodes, yellow, red, purple or striped, and by other general characteristics.

The stem of the cane is solid, with joints at intervals of three to six inches. In diameter it ranges from one to two and a half inches, and is unbranched, bearing in its upper part numerous long, narrow grass-like leaves, arranged in two rows. The leaves spring from large sheaths around the joints, and have a more or less spreading blade from three to five feet in length and two inches or more in width. The pith, of open cellular structure, contains the sugary juice. The tops, which contain but little sugar, are not crushed, but are used for seed, as the plant germinates from the eyes, or buds, which grow on the stem around the joints. Practically no cultivated cane is propagated from its seed. The roots that remain in the ground after the cane is harvested throw up fresh canes or ratoons for many seasons, after which replanting is necessary. Hawaiian growers do not count on ratoons for more than a few crops, whereas in Cuba this process can be repeated for many years.

As a rule, sugar cane consists of about eighty-eight per cent of juice and twelve per cent of fiber, the juice content varying from time to time, both as regards quality and amount. The quantity of the juice pressed from the cane determines the efficiency of the extraction, while quality is the main factor when the result of subsequent manufacture is under analysis.

It is difficult to arrive at a fair average of the composition of the juice of the cane, as it varies in different countries, on different plantations in the same country, and at different periods in any one year. The following is an approximation:

Water 80.8 per cent
Sugar 16.4 ”
Invert sugar 1.98 ”
Organic non-sugar .54 ”
Ash (mineral matter) .28 ”

THE GROWING OF SUGAR CANE

Sugar cane grows almost exclusively in the tropical belt, extending from twenty-two degrees north to twenty-two degrees south latitude, where the three essentials for its successful culture, viz., fertile soil, hot sunshine and plenty of moisture, are present. It flourishes in the islands of the Pacific ocean, particularly in the Hawaiian group, in Cuba, Mexico, Central America, the islands of the East and West Indies, Australia, China, India, along the shores of the China sea and the Indian ocean, and in certain parts of Africa and South America. In the low latitudes of the temperate zone it is grown with only fair success.

Owing to peculiar climatic conditions, sugar cane has been raised in southern Spain for generations, notwithstanding the fact that the provinces in which the sugar cane is grown lie, roughly speaking, between thirty-six degrees and thirty-eight degrees north latitude. The Gulf Stream is no doubt largely responsible for this phenomenon. The quantity of sugar produced in Spain, however, is small, the crop of 1914-15 amounting to less than 8000 tons.

Sugar cane thrives best in a moist, warm climate, with moderate intervals of dry, hot weather, and plenty of water for irrigation. It requires marly soil, free from saline ingredients. As a rule, it is raised on the lowlands, where the temperature is highest and where it is easy to bring water for irrigation. In Hawaii it takes eighteen months to ripen, and “tasseling” occurs about thirty days before it is ready to be cut. In Louisiana and Texas, because of the short seasons, cane is harvested in from nine to ten months from the time of sprouting, and, consequently, before it has attained maturity. In Cuba it is cut in twelve months, whether it is ripe or not.

As the scientific culture and manufacture of sugar is probably further advanced in the Hawaiian islands than in any other part of the world, a description of the industry as carried on there will serve to illustrate the intensive cultivation and scientific methods of the present day.

The Hawaiian islands are situated in the Pacific ocean, in latitude nineteen degrees to twenty-two degrees north and in longitude one hundred and fifty-four degrees to one hundred and sixty-one degrees west, and are free from the destructive hurricanes of the East and West Indies. They are of volcanic formation and, as a rule, their centers are mountainous, in some instances reaching an elevation of nearly fourteen thousand feet. During the ages, torrential rains carried volcanic ash from the mountains toward the sea, near which it was deposited, thus forming alluvial areas of vast richness around the circumference of the islands. Parts of some of the islands are fringed with coral reefs, barriers that retain the washings from the mountains. In these low-lying areas the soil is extraordinarily fertile, and it is on such ground that the most generous crops are raised.

The soft, warm trade winds that blow from the northeast become laden with moisture as they sweep over the ocean; when they strike the cold mountain peaks the moisture condenses immediately into copious rains. The precipitation in some places reaches the astounding total of three hundred inches per annum. The rain water is conserved and, when needed, is carried to the various plantations by immense irrigation ditches.

In this tropical region there is an abundance of sunshine, accompanied by humid heat, exactly the conditions needed. It required only man’s ingenuity to utilize what nature so lavishly provided.

The commercial cultivation of sugar cane in these islands began about 1850, when a few hundred tons of raw sugar were produced, but the methods of husbandry and manufacture were crude. Time and experience worked great changes, until in 1914-15 the crop of raw sugar totaled 646,448 tons of 2000 pounds each.

For many years past the sugar planters have maintained in Honolulu an experimental station that is the marvel of the agricultural world. The bulletins issued by it are recognized as authoritative, and are read with interest in every sugar-producing country.

The most important features of the work carried on at this station are:

1. SOIL ANALYSIS

Skilled chemists examine the soils of the various plantations and, when occasion demands, advise the planter what necessary element is lacking, as well as how to obtain and apply it. A few years ago this branch of the work was considered highly important. Recently, however, the agriculturists have been depending more upon well-defined systems of experimentation. Each plantation has on its own lands plots of ground on which different methods of culture are tried and on which various kinds of fertilizer are used. Experiments are also made to determine the exact amount of water needed for irrigation. Particular attention is paid to seed cane, and a number of types of it are planted in order to obtain seed that will produce stalks that grow rapidly, yield a large tonnage per acre, contain a maximum amount of sugar, and have a high resistant power against disease and insect pests. The success attending this practical experimental work is such that soil analysis is being relegated to second place.

2. ENTOMOLOGY

A staff of trained experts assiduously study the insect life and eagerly watch for harmful, troublesome pests, which in the past have wrought great damage. It is their duty to find the means of eliminating these pests, and this they usually accomplish through the skillful use of insect parasites.

3. PATHOLOGY

The pathologists attached to the station supplement the scientific labors of the chemists and the entomologists by prescribing for any disease that may attack the cane. Plant life is subject to as many ills as the human family, and the work of these specialists in restoring health to ailing cane is of the highest importance.

To fully illustrate the character and scope of their work, a particular instance for each department may be cited:

A certain planter found that the amount of sugar obtained from his cane was decreasing yearly, though he could see no good reason for it. The land looked right; he ploughed deeply, harrowed well, kept the weeds down, gave the cane plenty of water, could find no reason to complain of climatic conditions, but still did not get satisfactory results. Finally the head of the experimental station was consulted and an agricultural chemist was sent to the plantation. This chemist, after careful investigation, took samples of the soil from various parts of the land; these were analyzed and the source of the trouble was found to be the lack of potash. Just here it may be explained that when the same crop is taken from the land many years in succession, without adequate fertilization, some of the essential properties of the soil become exhausted. Speaking generally, these are lime, soda, potash, phosphates and nitrogen. In this particular instance, as has been said, the land had been gradually drained of its potash. The experimental station recommended the planter to scatter a certain fertilizer over his fields. This advice was followed and the next crop showed remarkable improvement, the yield of cane and sugar per acre being greater than ever before.

At one time the sugar industry of the Hawaiian islands was threatened with annihilation by a little insect called the “leaf-hopper.” The harm done by this pest was so enormous that one plantation having an average yearly crop of 19,000 tons was so severely affected that the yield dropped from 19,000 to 12,000, and then to 3000 tons in three successive crops. All the plantations on the islands suffered to a greater or lesser extent, and the entire sugar industry of Hawaii was jeopardized.

The hoppers punctured the stalks and leaves of the young cane, and in the holes thus formed laid their eggs by thousands. When the young hoppers hatched out, they fed on the juices in the stalk and in the leaves, thus destroying the leaves and depriving the cane of its protection and principal means of absorbing nourishment from the air.

As soon as the leaf-hopper by its ravages made itself known in the islands, the entomologists were consulted, and they were confronted with the task of studying the life and habits of the hopper for the purpose of finding, if possible, some other insects that would attack and exterminate it. It is well known to entomologists that every insect pest has natural enemies; the vital question in this case was—what were the natural enemies of the leaf-hopper and where were they to be found? Obviously, too, the problem was to discover insectivorous enemies that would not themselves attack the cane after they had destroyed the hopper.

After careful investigation it was concluded that the leaf-hopper had been introduced in Hawaii in new varieties of seed cane imported from Australia, and, as the hopper was not doing material damage on the plantations in Australia, the inference was that it must be controlled there by its natural enemy. The chief of the Department of Entomology was sent to London. There in the archives of the British Museum he found a full description of the leaf-hopper and that its native habitat was Queensland, Australia. On his return to Hawaii, entomologists were sent to Australia and the search for the enemy of the hopper began.

For weeks the entomologists virtually lived in the cane fields, undergoing extreme privations, but at last their faithfulness was crowned with success. Several species of parasites that kept the Queensland leaf-hopper in check were discovered, and later on more were found in the islands of Fiji. These tiny creatures as a rule were invisible to the naked eye and could only be seen with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass. All of these insects were parasites either of the leaf-hopper or its eggs. Two of them were particularly efficacious. One, quicker in movement than the hopper, caught it unawares and attached itself to the hopper’s body much in the same way that a mosquito does to a human being. After catching it, the parasite would sting the hopper and lay an egg in its body. In a few days a young parasite was hatched from the egg, and so ravenous was this young insect that it devoured the hopper in a short time and then sought a fresh victim in which to lay its eggs.

The other insect was even more effective. It liked the hoppers’ eggs and for a long time found plenty in Hawaii to stay its appetite. As soon as the leaf-hopper laid its eggs in the cane, this particular insect would appear and lay its eggs in the eggs of the leaf-hopper. When the little enemies hatched out, they fed on the hoppers’ eggs and in turn laid their eggs in the eggs of the hopper. It came to pass that the hoppers, attacked by the parasite on the one hand and by the enemy on the other, rapidly dwindled in number until only a few remained, and these not enough to do material damage. As the hoppers and their eggs diminished, so did the parasite and the enemy, for the latter could live on insect food only.

How the scientists collected these tiny animalcules, kept them alive, transported them thousands of miles across the ocean, bred them in Hawaii and saved the Hawaiian sugar industry, reads like a romance.

The study of entomology is extremely interesting and the every-day business man rarely understands its importance. The finding, breeding and distribution of parasites of insect pests vitally affects the world’s food supply. The entomological name of the leaf-hopper family is _Hemiptera_, and Dr. Sharp, an authority on the subject, has said: “There is probably no order of insects that is so directly connected with the welfare of the human race as the hemiptera; indeed if anything were to exterminate the enemies of hemiptera, we ourselves should probably be starved in the course of a few months.”

It has been estimated by competent authority that the damage done in the world each year by the hemiptera, in spite of all their parasites, is conservatively $600,000,000. Were it not for the parasites, it would only be a year or two at most before every green leaf and spear of grass would disappear from the face of the earth. The direct influence of the practical application of this science to the production of sugar is readily apparent.

Pathology is almost equally important. In former years when cane failed to grow strong and sturdy and did not yield much sugar, the planter usually attributed the difficulty either to lack of water, poor soil, cool weather, too much rain or insufficient cultivation of the field by his manager, when in fact the trouble was due to none of these causes. He would personally oversee the operations of the following year, but with no better results.

When the roots of the cane became matted, stuck together and turned black, when a thick gum exuded from the stalk and leaves, preventing the plant from drawing proper nourishment from the air, it was thought that these troubles arose from climatic or local conditions, while in reality the plant was sick and needed a doctor. Today, under the new régime, whenever the plant shows any symptoms of ill-health, the pathologists are called in to eradicate the disease by scientific treatment.

Insect pests and plant diseases are generally brought into a country through planters sending to other cane-raising countries for new varieties of cane for seeding purposes that they think may produce more sugar than their own. Great trouble and heavy loss have been occasioned in this way and, as a consequence, the United States government has established a strict quarantine, allowing plant life to be landed only after rigid examination and when it is clear that no danger exists.

Another example of the work of the entomologists may be of interest:

During the visit of a well-known Hawaiian to Mexico many years ago, his attention was attracted by a beautiful shrub that he thought would make a splendid hedge around his home. It grew about five feet in height and its foliage was of a rich green, with a brown, red and yellow flower. The slips he brought to Honolulu thrived wonderfully and cuttings of the plant were taken to the other islands for a like purpose. Wherever planted it grew amazingly fast. It quickly spread over the hillsides and became so dense that cattle could not penetrate the thickets formed by it. It made valueless large areas of land that formerly had been used for the pasturing of cattle and plantation stock, and reduced the grazing area at an alarming rate. Land that adjoined the plantations and that in the course of time became needed for plantation purposes was also over-run by it.

The curtailment of the grazing lands and the increased cost of clearing were so great that the entomologists were finally sent for and asked if they could not eradicate the trouble. After a careful investigation they went to Mexico, whence the lantana, as the shrub is called, had come. On their return journey they brought back with them a fly. The fly laid its eggs in the bud of the lantana, and when the young flies were hatched they fed upon the lantana seeds. The flies multiplied rapidly and soon made away with the seeds, thus preventing the shrub from spreading any further. When it was once cleared from the land or the plantation it did not reappear.

These illustrations demonstrate the fact that the culture of sugar cane involves a constant struggle between science and unrestrained nature.

As a rule, Hawaiian sugar plantations are located close to the seacoast, between it and the base of the mountains. The lands slope gently toward the sea, thus insuring good drainage and easy application of water for irrigation. Most of the cane is grown on land less than five hundred feet above sea-level, although in a few rare instances it is cultivated at an elevation as great as three thousand feet. Parts of the leeward side of the islands, where it is extremely dry and hot, and where the cane thrives best, depend entirely on irrigation, the water being brought to the plantations by ditches or pumped from wells. On the windward side of the island of Hawaii, where the rainfall is abundant, irrigation is unnecessary except during very dry periods.

In cultivating, the ground is turned with steam ploughs to depths up to twenty-four inches. These ploughs are operated by powerful engines that work in pairs, one on each side of a field, usually from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet apart. One engine pulls a gang-plough across the field and the other draws it back. By this method the rich soil is thoroughly loosened and a wonderful vegetable growth results. Ordinarily in California the farmer ploughs only from four to six inches deep.

After the lands are ploughed and harrowed and all the weeds turned under, double mould-board ploughs are used to make the furrows in which the seed is planted. The furrows are not like those made for planting potatoes, but are about five feet apart and eighteen inches deep, each furrow and hill being symmetrical. They follow the contour of the land so that the irrigation water will fill the furrow and remain there until it is absorbed by the soil and penetrates to the cane roots. At regular intervals of about thirty-five feet, lateral ditches are cut, from which there is an entrance into every furrow. These lateral ditches deliver the water from the main ditches to the various parts of the fields. The land is now ready for the seed.

Meanwhile, the harvesting of the ripened cane in other fields is going on. As the laborers cut the cane, they top it, that is to say, they cut off about twelve inches of the upper part of the solid stalk. Sugar cane resembles bamboo, in that it is cylindrical in shape and divided every few inches into sections by rings or joints. In every joint there is a bud or eye, from which a shoot of cane will sprout, if properly planted in the ground and watered.

These tops, always cut from untasseled cane, contain very little sugar. They are carried to the newly prepared field and placed in rows in the furrows, end to end, lengthwise, the ends overlapping a trifle in order to guard against blank spaces in the growing cane. They are then covered, according to the season, with one to one and a half inches of earth, and the water is turned in until the furrow contains from three to four inches of water. Between six and ten days afterward, the little green cane shoots appear above the ground. From this time forward continuous irrigation and cultivation, together with proper fertilization, are required until the cane matures.

Planting usually begins in March and continues until September, sometimes later, and the cane ripens one year from the following December.

Growing cane should be watered every seven days, and the amount of water used for this purpose is enormous. For example: a plantation producing thirty-five thousand tons of sugar per annum needs twice as much water per day as the city of San Francisco.

The appearance of growing cane is much like that of Indian corn. The whole field area is covered with a dense, jungle-like vegetation of brilliant green. The leaves are long and narrow and hang in graceful curves. The cane grows so thick that it is almost impossible to crawl through it, and so seldom do the sun’s rays penetrate to the ground that rapid evaporation of the irrigation water cannot take place, hence the cane gets the full benefit of the moisture.

In certain varieties of cane, the great weight of the juice in the stalks causes them to bend, droop and take fantastic shapes. Sometimes they lie on the ground with the ends turned upward, and in fields where the stalks grow to a length of twenty-four feet, the average height of the tops above the ground is not over twelve feet. In other kinds the stalks stand straight up to a height of from eight to fourteen feet.

The production of cane per acre varies in different countries and in different parts of the same country, according to the character of the soil, climatic conditions, care and attention, use of fertilizer and amount of rainfall or irrigation. In Hawaii it ranges from twenty to eighty-five tons, and the amount of sugar obtained per acre runs from two and one-half tons to twelve tons, the average being about five tons.

Broadly speaking, lack of a normal amount of cane per acre, lack of sugar in the cane, or the prevalence of disease, is primarily due to an unsanitary or unsuitable condition of the soil. This can usually be corrected by proper cultural methods, such as adequate aeration of the soil, the turning under of the cane tops and leaves, application of lime and suitable combinations of fertilizing ingredients. Fundamentally, cane requires a well-aerated, moist, alkaline soil and a fertilizer in which the nitrogen content is high and in excess of the potash and phosphoric acid. It is found that nitrate of soda, when applied alone or in combination with potash and phosphoric acid, produces a very strong growth. The proper sanitation of the soil tends to promote the beneficial bacterial action so essential to the growth of the cane.

In December and January the cane tassels or flowers, which indicates that it has about reached maturity and is ready for cutting. Thenceforward very little irrigating is done, as additional water applied at this time might retard ripening, which would mean a reduced amount of sugar stored up in the cane.

It is interesting to note that while the cane is growing and in an unripe state, there is no discernible sucrose or pure sugar in it. As the ripening process goes on, the content of the cane juice is changed by the action of the sun’s rays, and the amount of sucrose as determined by polariscopic test shows when the time for harvesting is at hand. Nature’s operation in thus changing glucose or invert sugar into sucrose or pure sugar cannot be accomplished by any human means.

The harvesting then begins and continues until the end of July or August. Usually the field is set on fire before cutting. On account of the great amount of moisture or juice in the cane, the stalks do not burn, but the leaves are thoroughly consumed. This operation eliminates a good deal of leaf material that is not only useless, but which, if sent to the mill, would increase the cost of crushing, besides absorbing a certain quantity of the juice expressed from the cane.

Formerly men stripped the leaves from the cane in the fields, but it was a difficult matter to accomplish such work, and the cost was heavy. An accident changed the method of doing this work. A field took fire and it was found that while all the leaves were consumed, little or no damage was done to the stalks provided they were cut promptly and sent to the mill to be crushed. The practice of burning has since become general, although the advisability of continuing it is now being given very careful study.

Burning eliminates the arduous labor of stripping, and no doubt does away with many harmful insects and fungi, but at the same time it destroys the enemies and parasites of these insects and this loss is severely felt. Another disadvantage of burning is that the nitrogen contained in the cane leaves is liberated and not returned to the soil as would be the case if the leaves were stripped and ploughed under. In the latter case the leaves rot rapidly, add humus to the soil, help aeration, and improve the sanitary condition, all of which tends to increase the yield of cane per acre. From recent experience it is not improbable that burning will be discontinued in the near future.

As soon as the field is ready, whether burned or not, the laborers go in to cut the cane. A long, heavy knife is used. The cutter grasps the stalk and drives the knife into it, severing it just at the ground. He then tops it, that is, he cuts off the upper part that contains no sugar, and, to aid in subsequent handling, the long stalks are cut into convenient lengths.

As the burning destroys the eyes or buds, certain fields are cut and topped for seed before the burning takes place.

There are two general methods of transporting the cane to the mills. One is by rail and the other by flumes. On the irrigated plantations where water is never overplentiful, railroad tracks and locomotives are invariably employed, while on the non-irrigated plantations, located in districts where there are copious annual rains, V-shaped flumes are extensively used. In some cases a combination of both systems is adopted to advantage. From the upper lands where it is difficult to construct railroads, the cane is flumed to a convenient point on the railroad system, at a lower elevation, and delivered into cars, while the water is conducted into ditches and used for irrigating the lower cane lands.

In the case of rail transportation, paths one hundred and fifty feet apart are cut through the fields so that temporary railroad tracks may be laid and cars run in and loaded on these tracks. The whole field is then cut in the same way and the work continued until the entire crop is harvested.

The loaders follow up the cutters. These men lay a strap on the ground and pile the stalks on the strap until they have a bundle of cane weighing from seventy-five to one hundred pounds. With a dexterity born of long practice, they sling a bundle upon their shoulders and carry it up an inclined runway to a railroad car not over seventy-five feet away and dump it on the car. The cutting and loading are usually done by contract, at so much per ton, and it is remarkable how proficient the men become.

When flumes are used exclusively, much the same methods are adopted. Paths are cut through the fields and in these paths are placed the flumes which, like the temporary railroad tracks, are moved from time to time as necessity demands. The mill is located at the lowest point on the plantation and the flumes are placed so as to insure a good grade from the cane fields on the uplands to the mill below. The flumes are either carried on low trestles or run along the ground, but always at a height which enables the laborers to throw the cane into them conveniently.

Water is turned into the upper end of the flume and, rushing rapidly down, carries or floats the cane to the mill. Cane is flumed in this way for distances up to seven miles at low cost and with satisfactory results.

The cars when loaded in the fields are made up into trains and hauled by locomotives to the mill, which is generally located about the center of the plantation, or at a point where most of the cane can be delivered on a downward grade. Each car is carefully weighed on a track scale and the exact quantity of its load of cane is ascertained and recorded.

For years past the planters have been offering large rewards for the invention of a machine to cut and load the cane, but the old hand method is still employed, although some experimental loading machines are meeting with more or less success, but none are in common use.

The problems involved in cutting cane by machinery seem insurmountable, and, while many devices have been tried, not one has proved successful.

After the cane is cut the first time, ploughs are sent through the fields and a furrow is ploughed along each side of the stubs of the cane which are left in place. This ploughing opens up the ground, aerates the soil, and affords the irrigating or rain water a means of easy access to the cane roots. The water tenders follow up the ploughs and the furrows are filled with water, which is gradually absorbed by the old cane roots left in the ground. In time new sprouts spring up from buds on the old stalks of the cane and another growth begins. The second crop is called “first ratoons” and, when cultivated for a single year only, it is designated “short ratoons.” As a rule it does not yield as much sugar as plant cane, but the saving in seed, in the preparation of the fields and in other labor frequently makes up for the reduced amount of sugar. If allowed to grow for two years, as is generally the case, it is called “long ratoons” and produces proportionately more sugar. In the past a very large percentage of the Hawaiian crop was planted with fresh seed every year and but a small percentage ratooned. Nowadays, however, the tendency is to ratoon the crop as long as the yield justifies, which in many cases is from three to four times. In Cuba the cane when once planted is ratooned for many years.

There have been specific instances in Hawaii where ratoons that have been allowed to grow for two years (long ratoons) have shown a better yield than the first planting. According to the best information, this is due to the presence of poisonous matter in the ground, turned up for the first time at the first planting.

The object of all the ploughing, weeding, cultivating, fertilizing and irrigating, is to produce a large number of strong, sturdy stalks of cane, yielding a maximum amount of sugar. The sugar is contained in solution in the sap or juice and the amount can be materially increased by due care and attention.

As some of the elements which form the plant are absorbed from the air through the leaves, favorable climatic conditions are essential to its full growth and development. Proper fertilizers must be added to the soil, and water applied regularly and in sufficient quantity.

Commercial fertilizers are used in Hawaii probably to a greater extent than in any other country in the world. It is quite common for plantations to use half a ton of fertilizer per acre per crop, and at times as much as two thousand pounds per acre. The yearly fertilizer cost per acre will probably average twenty-five dollars.

As it takes eighteen months for a crop to mature in Hawaii, it will readily be seen that the plantation area must be at least double that used for any one crop. While one crop is being harvested, another crop is in the ground growing. As soon as the cane is cut, the lands are immediately prepared for replanting or ratooning, as the case may be. During certain periods each year, usually in June and July, a visitor on an Hawaiian plantation can see one crop growing, one being harvested and one being planted.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the harvesting begins in December and ends in July or August. The planting begins from March to June and usually ends in September, according to plantation conditions and whether or not the land is irrigated.

THE MANUFACTURE OF RAW SUGAR

The details of the manufacture of raw sugar from cane and of sugar from beet roots differ, but there are several processes common to both. The operations necessary for making raw cane sugar are as follows:

1. The extraction of the juice.
2. The purification of the juice.
3. The evaporation of the juice to syrup point.
4. The concentration and crystallization of the syrup.
5. The preparation of the crystals or grains for the market by
separating them from the molasses.

Every mill has an extensive laboratory where skilled chemists are constantly engaged in sampling and analyzing cane, raw juices, syrups, sugars and molasses. In fact the chemical work is a most important feature in the raw-sugar house, beet-sugar factory or refinery. The superintendent should be an expert chemist, as the proper recovery of the sugar from the cane and beet juices is wholly dependent upon the technical control of manufacturing processes.

EXTRACTION

After passing the scales, the cars containing the cane are switched alongside the carrier which feeds the cane into the mills. Before the cane is unloaded, however, samples are taken from each car and sent to the laboratory, where they are carefully analyzed. The amount of sugar present is ascertained, as well as the quantity and quality of the juice in the cane. It is, however, impossible to get a fair average sample of the cane in this way, and therefore the efficiency of the mill work is determined on the basis of an analysis of the juice and the fiber after it has passed through the crushers.

The carrier just referred to is a wide slat conveyor, running alongside the railroad tracks in the yards to a point directly over the first set of crushers. The cane is taken from the cars by a mechanical unloader, the arms of which reach out and with distended fingers pull the cane stalks off and land them on the slow-moving carrier, which takes them onward and upward to the crusher.

The crusher consists of two large rolls, with immense interlocking, corrugated teeth on the circumference of each. These rolls are set close together, and the cane passing through is broken into short pieces and matted to an even layer. The juice squeezed out by this preliminary crushing runs through a metal trough into a large receptacle known as the juice tank.

From the crusher the mat of cane passes to the mills proper. These mills consist of from nine to eighteen rolls, about thirty-four inches in diameter and seventy-eight inches long, arranged in groups of three, set in the form of an isosceles triangle, one above and two below, one set following the other in a direct line. The lower rolls are parted enough to allow the expressed juice to fall through them, while the half-crushed cane is carried over by means of an iron bar called the returner. The faces of the rolls are more or less roughened, or grooved, so as to draw the cane through and give a better crushing action. They are turned slowly by powerful engines, which transmit the power to each set of rolls through a system of gears. The rolls are forced together by hydraulic rams exerting a pressure of from four hundred to six hundred tons. It is this tremendous pressure that squeezes the sugar-bearing juice out of the cane.

From the crusher the matted cane passes through the first set of rolls, where a large percentage of the remaining juice is liberated. This is caught in a metal trough and, after passing over a fine screen to remove the small pieces of cane, runs to the juice tank. The cane passes through the second set of rolls, thence to the third set, and so on to the end of the mill. In front of the last set of rolls, hot water is sprayed on the cane to soften the fiber and dilute the remaining juice, thus aiding the final extraction. The adding of hot water is termed _maceration_. By the time the cane has passed through the last set of rolls, all the economically recoverable juice is out of it and delivered into the juice tank, with the exception of the juice and maceration water from the last set of rolls, which is always returned to the preceding set of rolls for maceration purposes. The juice or maceration water coming from the last set of rolls contains very little sugar, and the object is to secure greater concentration by using it for double maceration instead of adding that much additional water which would have to be evaporated later on in the process.

In well-designed, modern mills, with cane carrying not over twelve per cent of fiber, more than ninety-eight per cent of the sugar in the cane is extracted, the remainder being left in the fiber. This is almost perfection today. What it will be tomorrow no one can say.

The fibrous, woody part of the cane, or bagasse as it is called, is comparatively dry as it leaves the last rolls. It is conveyed from the mills to the boiler house on a wide slat conveyor, and fed directly into the furnaces under the boilers that generate the steam for power and boiling purposes. A modern raw-sugar mill requires practically no other fuel than that obtained as a by-product from the crushing of the cane.

The boiler plant is usually of large capacity, as a great deal of steam is required to drive the engines that run the crusher, the rolls, the electric lighting system, the pumps and other machinery. Besides, a large amount is needed to evaporate the water in the juice and to boil and dry the sugar. The ashes from the furnaces are returned to the fields as fertilizer, so that very little is lost.

PURIFICATION

The juice as it comes from the mills contains impurities such as dirt from the fields, small pieces of cane stalks and other foreign matter, besides salts, gum, wax and albumen. It is necessary to remove as many of these substances as possible, and this is where the chemist’s work begins.

So long as the juice is confined in the living cells of the cane it does not quickly ferment, but when liberated it rapidly undergoes such change. Therefore no time is lost in arresting this action. The juice is pumped to the top floor of the mill and there a solution of milk of lime is added in sufficient proportions to neutralize the acidity. The mixture is then heated in closed tanks under pressure to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat causes the lime to combine rapidly with the gums and salts in the juice, and the albumen to coagulate.

The hot juice is then run into large settling tanks, where the insoluble solids and the albumen sink to the bottom, carrying with them vegetable and other matter suspended in the juice. Certain foreign substances of light specific gravity float to the surface in the form of scum.

After settling for a time the clear juice is drawn off and the scum, mud and cloudy liquor left in the tank. As a vast amount of liquor must be handled every hour, it is not practicable to have tank capacity great enough to admit of the liquor standing a sufficient length of time for every particle of foreign matter to settle, so as an adjunct to the settling tank, filters are used. These are cylindrical iron tanks, packed tightly with ordinary wood fiber, known as excelsior. The juice is conducted to these filters, and as it percolates through the excelsior, practically all of the remaining foreign matter is caught and retained in the fiber. The clear juice is then run to the receiving tanks for the evaporators and the mud and scum that remain are drawn off into mud tanks, where more lime is added and the mass stirred up. Finally it is delivered to the filter presses, where the mud and other impurities are taken out and the clear liquor containing sugar is sent to the evaporators.

Another method for cleaning, called “precipitation in motion,” is to carefully lime the juice and then heat it in closed vessels and under sufficient pressure to carry it through a pipe to large insulated settling tanks.

These settling tanks, usually of sheet steel, are made in the form of truncated cones with conical bottoms, the small diameter of the tank being at the top. Suspended in the center is a vertical cylinder somewhat less in diameter than the upper part of the tank. This cylinder extends downward about eight feet to a point opposite the largest diameter, which makes the area between the circumference of the suspended cylinder and the tank at that point very much greater than the area of the cylinder itself. This difference in area is necessary to retard the flow of the juice and allow the sediment, mud and insoluble solids to be deposited at the bottom of the tank.

The juice is delivered by a pipe into the top of the cylinder which projects a few inches above the edge of the surrounding settling tank. It passes slowly down the central passageway, turns at the bottom, where its speed is materially slackened, and goes out through a pipe line connected to the side of the tank just below the upper edge.

There are several other methods in general use, but in all of them the principle of settling, upon which the separation or cleaning depends, is the difference in specific gravity between the juice and the dirt. A high and even temperature should be maintained by preventing radiation, as lowering the temperature would increase the specific gravity and viscosity of the juice without increasing that of the dirt in equal proportion.

There are many different types of filter presses, but those at present in general use are long, oblong machines, set horizontally on the floors, with layers of corrugated iron plates, covered with canvas sheets, between which are hollow frames so arranged that the juice will pass from the hollow frames through the canvas to the corrugations in the plates.

In passing through the presses under pressure the sediment, scum and other impurities are caught on the canvas sheets and the clear juice passes through the canvas, down the corrugations and out through small holes in the plates controlled by valves on the outside of the presses, from whence it runs to the evaporator tanks. The sugar in the mud caught in the hollow frames is washed out of the mud with water and is sent to the evaporator, while the mud itself is finally returned to the field, to be used as a fertilizer.

The clarified juice from the settling tanks, filters or presses, is light brown in color, but is thin and watery, and must now be reduced to syrup point. All the suspended impurities have been removed, but some impurities in solution and the original coloring matter still remain. Some of these foreign substances are subsequently eliminated during the process of crystallization in the vacuum pans described later on.

The object to be attained in a raw-sugar house is the production of a sugar containing ninety-six per cent of sucrose, and there is little or nothing to be gained by carrying the process of manufacture beyond the stage that insures such result.

The final extraction of all the impurities and the conversion of the impure raw into pure white granulated sugar is the work of the refiner, which is dealt with in a subsequent chapter.

From the time the juice leaves the cane until it is crystallized it is kept at a high temperature, as cold juices or syrups are viscous and run slowly. High temperatures kill germs, prevent fermentation and expedite manipulation.

EVAPORATION

Under ordinary atmospheric pressure at sea-level, water boils at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit and sugar juice at a few degrees higher, according to its density. This temperature if long applied to sugar juice would tend to burn and destroy the sugar, but the juice can be heated to 250 degrees for a short time without deterioration.

The clarified juice contains about eighty-five per cent of water and fifteen per cent of solid matter. A large proportion of the water must be removed by evaporation. To accomplish this under ordinary atmospheric conditions would require heat increasing from 212 degrees Fahrenheit, as the solution increased in specific gravity above the standard of pure water. This would require a large amount of fuel, and the juice would also be more or less adversely affected by long maintenance of comparatively high temperature.

To obviate these conditions the juice is boiled in a multiple evaporator, the invention of Norberto Rillieux, whose first construction in New Orleans in 1840 was a double effect horizontal submerged tube apparatus which has since undergone many changes and improvements. The theory of evaporation _in vacuo_ was extended to two or more cells or vacuum bodies, using the steam or vapor from the first to heat the juice or syrup in the second and so on. At the present time the quadruple effect, or four-cell evaporator, is most commonly in use, although sextuple effects are not rare. The ordinary practice is as follows:

The juice enters cell No. 1 and covers the heating tubes, to which is admitted sufficient steam—generally exhaust from the engines—to cause the liquid to boil. The steam or vapor liberated from this first boiling is conducted through the vapor pipe directly into the heating tubes of cell No. 2, while the juice from cell No. 1 is passed into the second, or cell No. 2, and surrounds the heating surfaces which contain the hot vapor given off from the same juice in cell No. 1.

As there is little or no pressure above the liquid in the first cell, the juice boils at from 215 degrees to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. By maintaining a vacuum of five inches in the second cell, the temperature at which the liquid will boil is reduced to 203 degrees, and the vapor from cell No. 1 is hot enough to boil the juice in cell No. 2 without any addition of heat. The vapor from cell No. 2 in the same way enters the heating tubes of cell No. 3, while the juice entering this cell is exposed to a vacuum of fifteen inches, which reduces the boiling temperature to 180 degrees, so that the difference of 23 degrees between the conditions of cell No. 2 and cell No. 3 causes a third boiling and evaporation without any additional steam being added.

A vacuum of twenty-six inches in the last cell, No. 4, brings the final boiling temperature down to about 150 degrees. The vapor from this last cell enters a condenser, where it is exposed to a spray of cold water, is condensed and passes down a pipe not less than thirty-four feet long, terminating in a water seal, and called the Torricellian tube, after Torricelli, who discovered that mercury would rise thirty inches in a tube while water would rise thirty-four feet with a perfect vacuum.

The juice in passing through these evaporating cells is boiled to a syrup containing about thirty-five per cent of water and sixty-five per cent of solid matter. It is pumped out of the fourth cell into the receiving tank for the vacuum pan.

This quadruple system of boiling only requires about one-fourth the amount of heat that would be necessary to do the same work in a single vessel. As the evaporators operate continuously, a constant level of the boiling liquid is maintained in each cell, the juice being drawn from one to the other by increasing vacuum and controlled or regulated by means of valves.

A powerful vacuum pump draws the air and other incondensable gases from the condenser and maintains the vacuum, which is applied to the necessary extent in each cell. The heating tubes are connected to drain pipes, which remove the condensed vapors.

Vacuum, simply and concisely stated, is the absence of air or gas. It is usually obtained by pumps which suck the air or gas out of closed containers or pipes. No doubt many of the readers in their younger days have sucked on the end of a bottle and were amused to find the bottle hanging on the end of the tongue. It was the vacuum, or lack of air in the bottle, which caused it to hang thus. The outside atmospheric pressure (which at sea-level is fifteen pounds per square inch) was doing its best to gain an entrance through the tongue into the bottle from which the air had been extracted.

The pumps simply suck the air out of the containers or pipes and discharge it through valves, in much the same way that the air was sucked out of the bottle. It must be remembered, however, that in boiling water or juice, the vacuum is being continually broken or reduced by the liberation of air and gases from the juice, steam and condensing water. This action must be overcome by the constant work of the vacuum pump.

To determine the amount of vacuum carried in any container, a small mechanical contrivance, known as a vacuum gauge, is used. This, in its simplest form, is a bowl of mercury with a long glass tube leading from it. If the upper end of the glass tube is attached to the container from which the air is to be drawn, the mercury in the tube will rise in proportion to the amount of air extracted. When an absolute vacuum has been formed, the mercury in the glass will stand at a height of thirty inches.

In commercial operations a vacuum greater than twenty-eight inches is seldom required, as this is sufficient for all practical purposes. The degree of vacuum for any container can be varied easily by mechanical manipulation, so that a vacuum anywhere from one to twenty-eight inches may be maintained.

CONCENTRATION AND CRYSTALLIZATION